Hit and never stopped

Stoney126

Member
Original poster
Joined
Apr 1, 2021
Messages
33
Location
Napa
Hey all my lj was clipped infront of my house and driver didn't stop. Mirrot was found in my neighbors yard. Included some pics. Think I got lucky as the body and frame look to be ok but im just eyeballing everything. The tie rod was bent and walked itself behind the track bar. The wheel got bent pretty badly. It got hit hard enough to knock the tilt lock for the steering wheel loose. And one of the hood latches was undone. It was a pretty solid hit but could have been worse. I swapped the tied and trac bar out with some cheap parts so I could start looking at the other possible damage. I found the driver front wheel is 1/4 inch possibly more under the vehicle the passenger side. Looking at the jeep from the front and can see the wheel is has obvious negative camber. I measured the knuckle to inner on both side and they showed the same distance. Hooked a dial indicator and showed about. 030 of movement but this is vertical movement. I dont see any movement that would effect camber. I didn't see anything on the knuckle indicating it is bent. Im think the axle itself is tube bent. Btw it rolls without any excessive runout, no unusual movement in the bearing. Any way for me to confirm? I have spoke with my insurance. Trying to take care of this myself. Long lost but thanks for reading and any input

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I feel your pain, my LJ got sideswiped on the street a couple of months ago, just like that. They left a bunch of rubber transfer on my rims, and a variety of other car parts, including a large chunk of their bumper cover.
At least they kept it out of your body and frame.
 
Hey all my lj was clipped infront of my house and driver didn't stop. Mirrot was found in my neighbors yard. Included some pics. Think I got lucky as the body and frame look to be ok but im just eyeballing everything. The tie rod was bent and walked itself behind the track bar. The wheel got bent pretty badly. It got hit hard enough to knock the tilt lock for the steering wheel loose. And one of the hood latches was undone. It was a pretty solid hit but could have been worse. I swapped the tied and trac bar out with some cheap parts so I could start looking at the other possible damage. I found the driver front wheel is 1/4 inch possibly more under the vehicle the passenger side. Looking at the jeep from the front and can see the wheel is has obvious negative camber. I measured the knuckle to inner on both side and they showed the same distance. Hooked a dial indicator and showed about. 030 of movement but this is vertical movement. I dont see any movement that would effect camber. I didn't see anything on the knuckle indicating it is bent. Im think the axle itself is tube bent. Btw it rolls without any excessive runout, no unusual movement in the bearing. Any way for me to confirm? I have spoke with my insurance. Trying to take care of this myself. Long lost but thanks for reading and any input

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That friggin sucks man....any surveillance cams in the area?... Might get lucky
 
Sorry to hear that but you got lucky (damage wise). Make sure the control arms aren't bent.
I had a similar thing happen to me just after I washed my car and Jeep. I went inside for 5 minutes and came out to find my car sideswiped. Mirror was down the street and entire side of the car was damaged. I was just happy they missed my Jeep.
p.s. Nice Camo Crocs. ;)
 
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Sorry to hear that but you got lucky (damage wise). Make sure the control arms aren't bent.
I had a similar thing happen to me just after I washed my car and Jeep. I went inside for 5 minutes and came out to find my car sideswiped. Mirror was down the street and entire side of the car was damaged. I was just happy they missed my Jeep.
p.s. Nice Camo Crocs. ;)

Some jeeps just have a magnetic force field around them...thank God for that. 👅
 
We have two ring cameras and they didn't record jack. I almost ripped em out. Will check the control arms they looked ok. Just need to figure out what is causing the the negative camber. With at least a 1/4 inch difference thought it would pretty obvious on what failed . Lol scraped off all the grime to hopefully find a crack or something
 
That is really crappy. Sorry. With an impact to the driver front wheel bending your tie rod and steering stabilizer as you've shown, I'd take a hard look at the axle, track bar and even the frame, especially the frame side track bar mount. Certainly a bent C or tube on the axle seems likely if the camber is out.
 
I got the alignment looked at.. looks like camber isn't to bad. Caster i imagine is due to the 2 inch lift on the jeep. Lol my toe was way out from swapping the tie rods out. With those readings i guess indeed to take a better look at the track bat mount and look for a bend. To me it seems like the the toe could be brought in a little.. i currently run a 31x10.5 r15

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